Japanese anti-nuclear organization hopes Nobel will make its movement “global” – Observer

The Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, said Saturday that it is confident that this award will help the message against nuclear weapons “go global.”

Survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who make up the organization, called ‘hibakusha’, held a press conference in Tokyo this Saturday to comment on the award given to them by the Swedish Academy.

“Rather than back down from the United States or other nuclear powers, I think [os responsáveis pelo prémio] decided that it was necessary to make an appeal to listen to the bomb survivors and elevate our movement to a global level”, said Terumi Tanaka, 92 years old and one of the group’s representatives.

The members of the organization reaffirmed their joy at receiving the award and the surprise: “I never thought they would give us the Nobel Peace Prize. When I found out this morning, I was extremely happy,” said the organization’s general secretary, Sueichi Kido.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to the Japanese group “for their efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and to demonstrate, through witness testimony, that nuclear weapons should never be used again.”

Nihon Hidankyo is a group founded in 1956 by ‘hibakusha’ or survivors of the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 11 years earlier, and has since worked to disseminate the testimonies of those affected around the world and to promote a world free from nuclear weapons.

It is the first time in 50 years that Japan has received the Nobel Peace Prize since 1974, when Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan between 1964 and 1972, received the prize for representing the Japanese people’s will for peace, presenting the three principles non-nuclear weapons of “not possessing, producing or permitting nuclear weapons” in the country.

The nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused more than 210,000 deaths due to the direct effect of the explosion, as well as the consequences of radiation that continued to affect the population years later.